Ikona z Manoppello: czy istnieje nauka alternatywna?

Abstrakt

Images with a special status of not being human-hand-made, or acheiropoietic works, arouse special interest and, sometimes, emotions. Recently, the status of the image stored in the Capuchin monastery in Manoppello has been discussed. According to several authors, it is a true, authentic image of Christ, which could be confirmed by the extraordinary properties of the painting on the fabric.

This review concerns one of the studies that pretends to be scientific, but concludes with the necessity to assume that there is no way to explain the circumstances of this images creation but supernatural. The most disturbing fact is that the authors postulate that supernatural circumstances should be considered equal to the prevailing primacy of the need for theses verification.

It was pointed out that such a postulate leads to abuse and, above all, does not stand up to criticism in the light of historical and physico-chemical researches that have been carried out in recent years. Instead of taking them into account and seeking Solutions to questionable issues through a critical analysis, the authors preferred to say that the object represents a supernatural phenomenon. However, it is difficult to accept their statement, especially as their research and publication were financed with scientific grants.